GKGN

 Grand Kid Game Night... or GKGN

Grand kid game night was a riot!  I just love everything about these kids so much.  They are so distinct,  age ranging from 18-3 and they just love each other so much. We did all of the usual things for GKGN… I think routine is good for memories… they will hopefully remember that meema always called ketchup “red Mustard” and we always had chicken nuggets, french fries, s'mores outside around the fire pit and end the night with Papa bread, butter and jam.  

Sophia is truly the “pied-piper”  of this group and can get them to do anything.  She led them in outside games, including playing “Wicked”, “Encanto”  Ninja, Red light green light, Tag, All it, Freeze tag.  She gets them to all gather up, speak in whispers and raise their hands for comments.  It’s really a fun to watch.  She led them in meditation and relaxation exercises as well.   

Wayne and I have been praying about our grandkid time, and we were moved in two different ways… Wayne went and got $2.00 bills for each kid and had a discussion about how unique a 2$ bill is and how unique Alfie is, and Poppy and Tayla nd Andrew etc..… and how it’s awesome to be You.    I coached them about their brain– we called it their monkey brain and how they don’t have to believe every thought they get and how they can talk to their brain and not just listen to it.  Talk to your brain when your parents ask you to help clean up and you don’t want to.  Talk to your brain when it’s telling you that nobody likes you, or you have no friends. Talk to your brain so you can try new things and not be afraid,  or you want to keep playing video games, or eating candy.  You can talk to your brain about all of this to become a better YOU!  We then all colored monkey pictures.  These kids love to color!  And even George is starting to get into it, as long as Papa turns his coloring page into an airplane when he is finished.  Wayne keeps Geo busy with airplanes and RC cars.  

 We have these kids here for 4 hours and it’s really noisy…and we love every minute.  We love how Sophia includes everyone and helps them to feel important. We love how Andrew just smiles and goes along with his sister…he is a great support to her. We love how Alfie is growing and changing and wants to “win” and gets frustrated when he doesn’t. We love how Tayla is so smart and kind and wants to be in the middle of everything.  We love how Poppy is so focused when she colors and tonight she wanted to teach everyone how to draw a giraffe.  We love how Lady takes care of Poppy and sticks up for her.  We love how Elsie–though little speaks up and is the “rememberer” of what we have done because she watches all of the old family videos.  We love how George is getting nicer.  And he is so funny with the things he says plus His crazy freezes in Ninja and tag are a hoot!  

“Meema want to hear a potty word?  Butthole  “ and he smiles to see my reaction. “Oh George,” I said, “we aren’t in the potty- the bathroom -so we don’t say those words.” George - “I like to say those words”

Tuck Everlasting

Why am I doing Tuck Everlasting?

As an aging actress, there are so few parts available for me. It's hard to find a show to even try out for because of my age. Most shows don’t even want an older ensemble member. But Tuck has a small Nana part—a grandma—so I’m good for that.  

The question in Tuck Everlasting is to choose between living forever at the age you are now (this is presented to an 11-year-old girl). …or to live a full life and then die?  

What if I did get to choose never to age as an actress, but stay the 20-year-old ingenue and only play that type of part over and over again for decades?  I could be Maria Von Trap— singing Do- re- mi over and over again for eons…  but how tiresome.

Are there parts and shows that I'm sad I never got the opportunity to be in and now I'm too old?  Absolutely.  But I would be more sad to be stuck in time.  Stuck in life. 

 I’m grateful to have aged through all of the parts.  

To have played Tzeitel in Fiddler on the Roof as a teenager and to have played a Jewish Mother when my boys were in another production of this show.  Grateful to have played Adelaide opposite my Wayne as Nathan Detroit in Guys and Dolls, and Eliza Doolittle (twice)  to his Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady.  Grateful to have played Anna in the King and I  and then to be in this show again as a Mother when my little family was in it. Grateful to have played Rosemay in How To Succeed in Business and Sister Mary Amnesia in Nunsense was a riot!  I’m grateful to have played Kate in Kiss Me Kate ( twice ) the first time in high school and then again as a 32-year-old and to be in Kiss Me Kate in college as an ensemble dance member as well.  To be a nun in Sister Act and then also play Mother Superior.  I had so much fun playing Ms. Q in 5 Carols for Christmas for 5 years…( then finally aged out.)

Grateful to be Dolly in Hello Dolly and Violet in 9 to 5 (twice).  Grateful to be Elsa Shroeder in Sound of Music and then later to play a nun.  Grateful to be Annie Oakley in Annie Get Your Gun and Mrs. Hannigan in Annie, and the Stepmother in Into the Woods.   

I have had decades of varying parts and this only happened because I aged.  

So…. Yes, I’m currently grateful for the Nana part.   

The last 10 minutes of Tuck Everlasting is “everything.”  It makes the show worth seeing.  It takes Winnie from 11-years-old into dating, marrying, having a child, losing her Nana, having her child grow up and marry, losing her Mother, and becoming a Nana herself.  It’s beautiful.  It speaks to my own life. 

 Some of us are blessed to live long lives and some of us are not.  

I keep my sister’s picture on my phone’s screen saver.  It’s been 10 years now of having her there.  She left us at 54…much too soon. I'm doing this show for her.